As you know this is our second winter in Marina di Ragusa and it has all the pluses one could ever ask for in an over wintering spot: lovely people, a good community with lots of activities to take part in or not as it takes your fancy, happy hours, a morning VHF net to keep us all informed, music nights, a weekly market and much more. At about this time of the year we start thinking about our next wintering place; we can't stay here forever, or can we?

We really enjoyed sailing in the Aegean and the Greek islands the summer before last and there is so much more to explore. You may remember we visited Crete and Rhodes from Piraeus before coming to Sicily and Marina di Ragusa. So this year with great information from Mark, whose yacht is in Samos we decided to do a winter land recce around the Dodecanese and the Eastern Sporades.

The first challenge was the logistics of getting to small Greek islands in the winter from Sicily. Out came the spreadsheet and mapping the taxis, buses, flights, ferries and B&Bs to match up, commenced. The price was not really an issue, the most expensive flight was €65 and the Boutique Hotel in Leros, newly refurbished and very lurxious was €58 per night, it was getting winter logistics to match up.

Marina di Ragusa to Catania airport was the starting point and the taxi I ordered to take us from Marina di Ragusa to catch the airport bus at 07.00 did not turn up, first oops! But once at Catania airport the flight to Athens went without a hitch. We stayed at Hotel Peri and the owner came to pick us up from the airport. This hotel us very well located for a hotel stopover if you don't need to go into Athens. The hotel called one of the local restaurants at the beach to pick us up to take us to their restaurant. The meal was absolutely delicious. Although Sicilian and Italian food is lovely, this was such a change. The grilled steak and lamb chops were out of this world!

Photo - Pythagorio Harbour, Samos, Eastern Sporades